The Dagger
Author- Carl Grosse *Carl Grosse, also known as Karl Friedrich August Grosse. *Also went by the name "The Marquis of Grosse". *Author of'' Horrid Mysteries'', a novel mentioned by Jane Austen in Northanger Abbey. *Author of Der Genius. *Was considered a Gothic Novelist and Theorist of the Sublime. *Born in 1768 and died in 1847. *Was a German author. ''The Dagger ''plot summary The Baron, Charles, is a very well off and handsome man, who is lusted after by most women. His family has him marry Albertina, a girl from a well to do family. Then Charles meets Julia, who is the lover of the Prince, and the most beautiful women there is. He falls in love with her and visits her every day, much to the Prince’s displeasure, because he knows that all women want Charles for his looks. Albertina finds out about Charles’ meetings with Julia and goes to visit her. Julia and Albertina are friends and Julia tells Charles that she can no longer meet with him. This angers Charles, who then puts poison into Albertina’s drink to get rid of her. Albertina knows about the poison and tells him that she wants to die, since he no longer loves her. The Baron sincerely loves her, and is upset so he gets the poison away from her, and she believes him when he says he will never see Julia again. Julia is upset that Charles no longer wants to be with her, and thinks it would be better if she would “feel the point of the dagger” (pg.98). Julia takes her dagger, and leaves a will and letter to the prince, and goes to visit the Baron. They fight and talk, and decide that they love each other, when Albertina catches them. She is not upset, having heard everything they said, but blesses them, but when Julia leaves, she leaves behind her Dagger. Things seemed to get better for everyone after this, although no one but the Baron, Albertina and Julia knew why. The country goes to war, and the Baron is at the head. They do well and he is rewarded greatly, but Julia realizes that she no longer has her Dagger and wants it back so the Prince will not get suspicious. He does not give it back at first, but eventually takes it to her. She is having a party and while he is there her dog bites his hand, and the dagger, which is stashed beneath his coat, stabs him in the stomach. Julia and the Baron try to lie about how he got the Dagger, but the prince does not believe them. They know they are in trouble and Julia prepares to run away, and wants the Baron to go with her. He refuses and she threatens to kill him. She essentially kidnaps him and when Albertina finds out she is upset, but helps cover for them. The Prince comes to see her then, and falls in love with her. The Baron and Julia are both unhappy and Julia ties to kill him again, but is stopped by a man passing by. Albertina shows up and Julia ends up killing herself, and she leaves everything to Albertina. The Baron is depressed, but he and Albertina move away and live out the rest of their lives together. Modern Reviews Gamer, Michael. Romanticism and the Gothic. Cambridge University Press, 2000. eBook. Author called Grosse’s novels “schauerrroman” or “shudder novels”, which came out of the sturm and drang movement in Germany. Andriopoulos, Stefan. "Occult Conspiracies: Spirits And Secret Societies In Schiller's Ghost Seer." New German Critique: An Interdisciplinary Journal Of German Studies 103.(2008): 65-81. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 23 May 2012. This did not talk about ''The Dagger ''but about Grosse’s other novels and how they were considered some of the best books in German literature at the time, but that his novels seem to be just reproductions of Schiller’s novels. Contemporary Reviews Bridgewater, Patrick. De Quincey’s Gothic Masquerade. Rodopi, 2004. eBook. De Quincey read Horrid Mysteries originally, and then The Dagger. He said that Grosse was just “a Schiller imitator”. Why is it Gothic? *Setting: Part of the novel is in a castle, which has secret passages so that Julia can leave, without the Prince knowing, but they are both just mentioned in passing and nothing else happens with either the passages or the castle. *Unknown parentage: Most of the people in this novel know where they came from, but it is never told were Julia came from. The author does mention that it is possible that she and Albertina are not only friends but sisters; he does not ever explain this anymore than that though. *Supernatural: When Julia first has the dagger, it is said to be surrounded in old spells, later on it is revealed that this is not true and that she took the dagger from the Prince and did not want anyone to find out. *Kidnapping: While someone is kidnapped in the novel, it is Charles and not one of the females. The novel does also have a few elements of a romance too. There is a powerful love, or lust, between Julia and Charles upon first meeting each other. There is an unreturned love between Charles and Albertina; while he cares deeply for her, he does not love her like he loves Julia, and yet she loves and would do anything for him. There are also rival lovers, both the Prince and Charles want Julia, Albertina and Julia both want Charles, and The Prince and a Duke want Albertina. While there are many elements that point to the novel being gothic, none of them seem to be developed, but seem like they were thrown together quickly just to make money. The author was known in his later novels for his descriptions of the sublime, but in this novel, there is none and everything seems rushed. It seems like Grosse was just trying to figure out what needed to go into a gothic novel before he wrote and developed a better one. Observations After finishing the novel I felt that there were a lot of loose ends, and parts of the novel that did not make sense. The author seemed to be rushing and would mention something that should be revistited later, but he never came back to them. ''The Dagger ''was written before both of Grosse's well known works, and it seemed like he was just trying to get a feel for the Gothic novel and trying to make money on this one.